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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24322747">moth man, not mothman</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/revolution_but_civilization/pseuds/revolution_but_civilization'>revolution_but_civilization</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Les Misérables - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Based on a Tumblr Post, Kinda, M/M, Moths, Nerd Combeferre, ahhhh i love moths, and i am going insane, and writing lame stories, courfeyrac is an actor, gavroche is his brother, he's studying in america, i have no social interaction, man idk how twitter works, rated T for a few curse words, the title is lame, this whole thing is lame actually, ugh i hate quarantine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:08:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>868</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24322747</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/revolution_but_civilization/pseuds/revolution_but_civilization</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>courfeyrac sees a cute guy on a PBS documentary, and posts about it on Twitter. also follows the guy, which may have been a questionable decision.<br/>-----<br/>inspired by https://menderash.tumblr.com/post/156660806149/i-saw-a-really-cool-butterfly-expert-man-on-pbs and my own obsession with moths</p><p>only warning is a couple curse words?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>(kinda pre-slash), (they're brothers but Gav isn't mentioned by name), Combeferre/Courfeyrac (Les Misérables), Cosette Fauchelevent/Marius Pontmercy (mentioned), Courfeyrac &amp; Gavroche Thénardier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>moth man, not mothman</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>
    <span>---</span>
  </b>
</p><p>"<span>—now, here we see a Bold Medicine Moth, scientifically known as the <em>Chrysendeton</em> medicinalis." The man held the glass container closer to the camera, grinning from ear to ear, and Courfeyrac almost swooned. Smiles like that should be illegal. "We don’t know much about these moths, though they are believed to live in a range throughout the Eastern United States. I’m really very lucky that the lab here has one." He laughed. "I’ve named this little guy Meriadoc after, well, you know. Miss Anson stopped—"</span></p><p>
  <span>"No fair!" Courfeyrac screeched, pausing the show and chucking the remote at his television. "Moth-guy is both unreasonably cute <em>and</em> likes Lord of the Rings? Just shoot me now." He flopped one arm dramatically over his eyes, then pulled out his phone, humming to himself as he typed furiously.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>Nathanaël Courfeyrac (@CourfAtTheTheater)</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I just saw the CUTEST guy on one of those nature channels? Fine as hell. All smart and nerdy and really flipping hot. Man, I’d marry that. Shoutout to unknown moth-guy. Keep up with whatever you’re doing, handsome.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He tossed the phone down to the carpet, before squinting at the TV. "PBS, huh? Wonder if they’ve got anything ‘bout this guy…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In one smooth motion, he grabbed his laptop off the side table, flipping it open and logging in. "PBS website, alright… <em>Extraordinary Entomology</em>, hah what a weird name… Guest stars…" He scrolled through the webpage, finally stopping when he saw a headshot of the man.</span>
</p><p>"<span>Jean-Florent Combeferre, huh? Oh look, he’s got a Wikipedia page. How fancy," Courfeyrac mused, quickly scanning the page. "Born in France… only two years old than me, hey… won an award for research into moths his senior year of college, damn that’s good… invited to study in Virginia… he has a Twitter?"</span></p><p>
  <span>Courfeyrac quickly bent over and grabbed his phone up off the ground, scrolling through Twitter again. Finally, he found Combeferre’s Twitter page, pressing follow.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>Jean-Florent Combeferre (@ferreTHEscientist)</span>
    </em>
  </b>
  <b></b>
</p><p>
  <span>For the next several hours, Courfeyrac busied himself with scrolling through the man’s Twitter. A little high-school-stalkerish, maybe, but at least it was enjoyable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Marius wandered in at about eleven, looking shocked when he saw Courfeyrac was still up. "Hey?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The curly-haired man looked up. "Hey Marius. Date go well?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was more roommate interaction than Marius was used to, especially this late at night. "Uh… yes? Yes, very nice."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Courfeyrac smiled quickly at him, before pushing himself up from the couch and turning off the still-paused television. "Glad to hear it. Goodnight."</span>
</p><p>"<span>Goodnight…"<br/>
</span></p><p>
  <b>
    <span>---</span>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning, the first thing Courfeyrac did was check his phone. No email… a text from Enjolras about the upcoming meeting… a meme from Éponine… three Twitter notifications.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Probably nothing. There was no reason Courfeyrac should have butterflies in his stomach at the sight. They were probably just messages from Prouvaire about their dog or something.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>@ferreTHEscientist</span>
    </em>
  </b>
  <b>
    <span> <em>followed you</em></span>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>Nope, those butterflies were warranted.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>@ferreTHEscientist liked your post “I just saw the CUTEST […]”</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>@ferreTHEscientist replied to your post “I just saw the CUTEST […]”: Thank you, I’m flattered.</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>"<span>Oh damn," Courfeyrac muttered under his breath. "Why didn’t I think of that? Can I not catch a single break? Ever?"</span></p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>@ferreTHEscientist said:</span>
    </em>
  </b>
  <b>
    <span> <em>hey! i watched that clip you had of you playing Davey in that community theatre production. you have a good singing voice!</em></span>
  </b>
</p><p>"<span>What, a conversation?" Laughing softly, albeit nervously, Courfeyrac opened up the message and typed a response.</span></p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>CourfAtTheTheater: hah thanks my irl little bro played les in that show</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>He paused for a second, before sending another message.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>CourfAtTheTheater: how’s Meriadoc the moth doing?</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>The three dots popping up for several seconds at Combeferre typed was quite possibly the most stressful thing that Courfeyrac had witnessed in his young life.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>ferreTHEscientist: he’s doing great! very popular with everyone here</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>ferreTHEscientist: i’ll miss him when i head back to france</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>CourfAtTheTheater: oh, ur coming back? usa isn’t begging u to keep gracing them w/ ur presence?</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>ferreTHEscientist: haha, no, they asked but i’ve been here for almost a year and my contract expires next month</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>ferreTHEscientist: and i miss affordable healthcare</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>Courfeyrac chuckled, and was almost completely caught off guard by the next message.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>ferreTHEscientist: hey, when i come back to france, you want to meet up for coffee sometime?</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>"<span>MARIUS!" he shrieked into the kitchen. His roommate wandered in, blinking his eyes blearily, and Courfeyrac showed him the message. "You clearly did something right with that Ursula girl; please give me advice."</span></p><p>"<span>Uh…" Marius started, squinting at the screen. "Her name is Cosette, actually. And since when are you asking <em>me</em> for romantic advice?"</span></p><p>"<span>Since I possibly got asked out by a ridiculously cute and nerdy guy. <em>Please</em> Marius. I’ll make you my famous spaghetti for a week if you help me with this."</span></p><p>"<span>Uh, okay. Just… say sure or something. I really don’t know."</span></p><p>"<span>Exclamation point?"</span></p><p>"<span>Why not…?"</span></p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      <span>CourfAtTheTheater: sure!</span>
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>
      
    </em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <span>---just over a month later---<span>Le Café Pierre Hermé</span>---</span>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>Courfeyrac sat at a small table near the window, two cups of coffee in front of him, scrolling absentmindedly through his phone.</span>
</p><p>"<span>Is this seat taken?"</span></p><p>
  <span>He looked up, and there was Combeferre, smiling slightly with his head tilted to one side.</span>
</p><p>"<span>Damn, you’re so much hotter in real life."</span></p>
  </div></div>
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